1. United States
2. La.
3. Letter

Democracy is at risk. I am writing every day during my lunch hour to ask - what in the world are you going to do? Who are you going to be? Are you a toady or a back bencher or will you fight for the people and fight for our nation? It is imperative that you stand on the right side of history and stand against Donald Trump and stand for the people and for our country. Now. Without delay. The foundational order of our nation is being upended. Right now we have a Congress that has ceded it's authority and is permitting the unconstitutional actions of an out of control executive branch. Many seem to be cheering the destruction of our institutions and the termination of federal workers. We have an executive branch that is engaging in illegal and unconstitutional actions. They are also idiots - as the Signal Chat leak mocking our allies and using emojis about WAR illustrates. These are unserious people engaging in deadly serious illegal and unconstitutional actions. From disappearing students for writing op-eds and legal residents for having tatoos to defying the Impoundment Act of 1974 to informing court orders to threatening allies like Denmark and Canada with imperial annexation to dismantling federal agencies created by Congress to attacking law firms for the clients they represent to defending research funds and attacking or preeminent institutions of higher education - President Trump and his administration is OFF the RAILS. The federal judiciary is doing its best to be objective and to use the tools it has to preserve the rule of law and our constitutional order. However, now judges and the courts themselves are under attack as House Leader Mike Johnson threatens to eliminate Federal courts. Nothing about this is normal. Everyone believes in the rule of law. Everyone believes in due process. Everyone believes in the First Amendment and the bill of rights. And yet Congress is not stepping up. Some of them attacking Sesame Street and NPR and others attacking esteemed professors during testimony. Do you believe in liberty or are you ok with tyranny? Everyone says they would have stood up for due process for the Jewish minority during WWII and stood against racism but many of YOU in Congress are revealing is that if it serves some attenuated political goal fascism is just fine - even when it hurts American people. I am so disappointed and angry because we are permitting and embracing creeping authoritarianism. It breaks my heart. For all the imperfections of this country and it's troubling history of slavery and genocide, we have always been aspirationally oriented toward a more perfect union. Are you a serious person or not? Will you stand up for Democracy and the rule of law or not? Or will you go down in history as a person who fiddled and danced while the barbarians stormed the gate?